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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081889">Like Autumn Leaves</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightasstars/pseuds/brightasstars'>brightasstars</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HM Discord 500 Words Series [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>COHF spoilers, Caring Alec, Caring Alec Lightwood, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Magnus Bane, M/M, Past Character Death, Referral to books, Referrals to another character death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 02:02:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>500</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27081889</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightasstars/pseuds/brightasstars</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"One heart leaves infinite stories behind.<br/>Love refuses to die."</p><p>A. Weiland-Crosby</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Magnus Bane &amp; Alec Lightwood, Magnus Bane &amp; Raphael Santiago, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HM Discord 500 Words Series [17]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1831771</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Hunter's Moon 500 Prompts</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Like Autumn Leaves</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Weekly event on Hunter's Moon Discord! Only request: 500 words or fewer. Week prompt - GRAVE</p><p> </p><p> </p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were walking hand in hand toward the tree up the same hill where they laid after Luke and Jocelyn's marriage.</p><p> </p><p>Alec could feel the sadness Magnus was trying to conceal. Maybe he was prepared to lose the ones he loved, but not this time. This time was different. Death, sacrifice, someone trading his life to save him.</p><p>He bent down, unlacing his boots and removing his socks, silently, then kneeled and started to remove Magnus' shoes too, until they were both standing barefoot on the grass. </p><p>Magnus was staring at him, with questioning eyes full of love and trust, as Alec walked to the tree trunk and grabbed the hoe he'd left there earlier.</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>"What now?" Magnus frowned in confusion, his golden eyes turning amber under the twilight sun.</p><p>Alec licked his dry lips, "It's time to greet him farewell."</p><p> </p><p>Magnus swallowed and blinked, forcing his voice into indifference, awareness sinking into him.</p><p> </p><p>"Downworlders don't need a grave. Also, he was already dead," the words unconsciously spoken to avoid the subject.</p><p>"To you, he wasn't," Alec replied and dug the hoe into the dark soil, as Magnus stood there motionless, his arms crossed on his chest, his heart heavy with pain and memories.</p><p>"This isn't for him. It's for you. Graves aren't for the dead. They are for us, for the ones that remain here, lost and lonely. To say goodbye, to let them go. A place for remembrance when our memories start to fade, a reminder that the ones we loved, have been real once. A place to mourn what we have lost. And this was a loss you hadn't taken into account."</p><p>When he finished his breaths were short and quick and he was covered in sweat. He opened his black sack and threw one of Raphael's shirts into the dirt.</p><p> </p><p><em> Ave atque vale </em>, Alec murmured, desperation and rage finally finding their way out of Magnus,  filling his eyes with tears.</p><p>He felt them falling steadily along his cheeks, as he watched Alec filling it again, then taking two steps back, and entwining their fingers.  </p><p> </p><p>Without looking at Magnus he whispered, "It wasn't your fault. Forgive yourself for being too drained to save him, and forgive him for choosing to die in place of you."</p><p>Magnus' hand tightened around Alec's, as he felt the salt burning against his swollen bitten lips.</p><p> </p><p>Alec searched  in the sack again, taking out an unsmooth wood.</p><p> </p><p><em> Raphael Santiago </em>, there was written.  He pressed down gently, aligning it with the soil, and smiled as he felt Magnus' magic twirl in the air, covering it with grass and white daffodils.</p><p>"I thought you would have wanted to write something."</p><p>Woosh of magic again.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Step softly, a gentle soul lies here.  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He reached Alec and sagged against his body as his strong arm curled around his waist and pulled him close.</p><p>He smiled sadly at the one who'd been a son, a friend, a brother, and one of the best choices he'd ever made.</p><p><br/>
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</p><p> </p><p><br/>
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</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading!</p><p>Tumblr @brightasstars</p></blockquote></div></div>
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